Happy Mothers Day fellow DIS-Moms! I promised I would wrap up this little TR this weekend and so here I am with my final thoughts of our Ten Sleeps in Disney World.

First things first however, and I have two things to take care of.

Our Favorite and Not-so-Favorite things of our final DHS day?

ALEX: Sci-Fi Dine In our last day

ARIANA: Star Tours! our last day

DEMETRI: TSM and Sci Fi our last day

Well, not too surprising there huh? The second thing to take care of is our departure day.

Our flight was mid morning-ish. Usually I like having the early time so we get back home at a decent hour and laundry can be done, naps can be taken and the house can generally get back into some semblance of order before the kids head back to school the next day. After the fourth time of doing it this way though, I gotta say Im ready to have either one more partial day in the parks or swim and relax at the resort before going home in the late afternoon. If theres one thing you can take away from this trip report . we are not morning people and getting up bright and early to leave Disney World is just something I am no longer wanting to do. But I digress ..

I dont remember a whole lot about this last morning. Gee, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that it was three quarters of a year ago. By the way, how crazy is that? Time really does go by very quickly! Unless of course youre waiting for your trip to hurry up and get here and then it draaaags. But I digress again .

As usual, we had a lot of snack dining credits left over and what we should have done was cashed them in for goodies to eat this morning or stashed to take home. But instead we ended up not using them and just climbing onto the bus to start our trek to the airport. I was too unhappy and tired to take any pictures yet for the day, but I finally did when we reached the airport. Watching the movie on the Magical Express bus back to the airport is bittersweet, dont you think? Youve just enjoyed however many days in the Happiest Place on Earth and while a small part of you is ready to head home, youre watching this cute movie that gives you one last dose of the Disney magic .. while being escorted away from it all.

Reaching the airport, we headed straight to the Disney Store. Honestly, are there any other stores in the airport?! I wouldnt know because we have tunnel vision and just make a bee-line for it everytime. We paused to chat for a bit with Snow White .

And Demetri was just so sad I had to take a picture of him.

Then, with coffee in hand, we headed in to The Magic of Disney.

We really hadnt given ourselves a whole lot of time to wander around in here, but it was fun to look over one last time all of the candy and souvenirs that were in here. I picked up a few little things for some co-workers and I flipped thru all the CDs that were on display. Mental note for our next trip . plan ahead on the souvenirs I want to get. I couldnt decide on which CD I wanted to get, so I didnt get any. Silly I know, in retrospect, but I literally couldnt decide and on the fly suggested to myself that I would look into it more and buy one on our next vacation. See? Already planning ahead. We had just enough time to purchase our last minute treasures and head over to our departure gate.

After reuniting Mickey with Minnie one last time .

We slowly made our way over to the shuttles, but first I stopped to admire one last time how much I like the Orlando airport.

Then it was onto the shuttles and the kids hopped onto the little bench at the back. Alex enjoyed the warm Orlando sun one last time during the quick trip. At first I thought Id caught him blinking but realized his eyes were still closed when I looked back at him again. By the way, notice the Mickey head bracelet Ariana is wearing? Multi-coloured facetted glass Mickey heads on an elastic . lasted one day after we got home.

We stopped at a bakery for a breakfast treat and it was soon time to board our plane for home. And with that, departure day has come to a close.

My final thoughts? Well lets see. Some of my favorite things from our trip, starting from the beginning:

The Scavenger Hunt  Arrival Day

It was so much fun doing the scavenger hunt. From the planning stages to the actual hunt to seeing the pictures afterward and remembering the fun of all the finds. It was the perfect way to spend some time exploring the resort and having great fun on our arrival day.

Cinderellas Royal Castle Breakfast  Magic Kingdom Day

This was the morning where Ariana and I had a Mother-Daughter breakfast in the castle. Just the two of us. The smiles on her face as we visited with the Princesses were priceless and one of the best photos from the entire trip was taken that morning with Cinderella. It was the perfect start to our Magic Kingdom day.

Meeting Push  Magic Kingdom Day

Meeting Push the Talking Trash Can was a treat. He (it? ) was one of those things Id hoped to be able to do during the planning stages of this trip, and then when the time came to go search for him, we had Pixie Dust luck and found him almost right away. Not only that, we were the first family to find him and got to interact with him a bit before anyone else came along. From his Can-a-da joke to wearing Alexs hat and proclaiming himself to look like Justin Timberlake, he was a hoot.

Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Disney Quest

This was our first vacation adding the Water Parks & More option to our park passes and they surely didnt disappoint. I had been nervous about the water parks because I thought it would be harder to keep track of Ariana and Demetri amongst all the crowds and the water. Turned out to be two of the best days we had! The Typhoon Lagoon waves were incredible and the Blizzard Beach slides were very fun. And of course, the lazy rivers at both are the BEST! Disney Quest was five floors of entertainment and fun and my first forage into letting Alex have a bit of much earned trust and freedom.

The Innoventions Building  Epcot Day

There really are lots of fun things to do in this building. The video game that Alex and Demetri made together was a hoot and something they can play anytime they want, and the Great Piggy Bank Adventure was a great way to have a blast and learn something at the same time.

Resort Day

This continues to be one of my favorite days on our vacations. Planning down time and leaving some room for spontaneity has worked out well for us. On this trip, we swam in the bowling pin pool, played Toy Story Mania and ended the day watching Fantasmic!

The Stop-and-smell-the-roses Pace of the Entire Trip

This can be hard to do, but when youre able to stifle the urge to rush thru the parks and jam everything you possibly can into your days, youre left with a much more relaxed experience. I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to say, next time and I respect that some families do have to plan things out a bit more extensively, but our family is fortunate to take the no rushing philosophy to the level we did on this trip and it was wonderful.

There were so many other moments from this trip that I could have singled out, and we had a few not so magical moments as well, but staying focused on the good parts, all in all, this vacation ranks right up there as one of the best. And that unfortunately, brings my little trip report to an end.

If youre so inclined to tag along with me as we start the process all over again, stay tuned as I get a PTR going for our November/December trip.

Tracy!! So I lurked all the way to th end!!! I so enjoyed reading all about your trip!! I enjoyed reliving it through your highlights!! I really hope you do start a PTR soon I can't wait to hear all about your next trip!!!!

I've so enjoyed reading your TR - and all the other adventures that got written up too! You did a great job of taking the stop and smell the roses approach, likely easier to do when you are there for 10 sleeps but I bet you don't come home feeling completely exhausted

I'd love to be in on your PTR, I don't keep up with them very well sometimes but I'll do my best as I'm excited to hear your plans (we're hoping for Dec 2011 so I'm sure I'll pick up some pointers!).

I'm so sad that your TR is over!! I've had so much fun reading about your trip!! I loved your stop and smell the roses pace! I'm hoping we can do that on our 2012 trip! (go for longer and take things much slower)

Great picture of Ariana with Snow White in the airport! I remember walking by it and asked the boys if I could get a picture with them in front of it. They just laughed..."Yeah, right Mom." Poor Demetri looks so sad though.....

Loved reading your favorite things!! I agree...a Pop scavenger hunt is so much fun! You have some really great pictures and wonderful memories to look back on from your entire trip!!

i always dread reading the last posts on trip reports! it makes me feel the terrible sad feeling of "departure day" however, i thoroughy enjoyed yours! also, your reflections on your trip were great to hear! i always feel the water park option is a terrific add on!

Thank you for sharing! Loved your high/low lights as well as the idea of a "stop and smell the roses" pace....hoping to achieve the same pace on our upcoming trip. Also loved the scavenger hunt, thinking about doing the same!

Awwww! The trip is over. I loved reading about your familys trip and I'm so glad your going back so we can hear about the next one. We are going and staying at Pop in Oct. so we will be there a little before you. I loved the pictures of the airport we always drive so I've never been there, we have a little rinky dink airport here in Myrtle Beach nothing to look at. I can't wait to hear about your next trip!

Awww, sad it's over. Great recap and some of those pictures are so sweet, like the one of Ariana at breakfast and the one of Demetri playing skee ball. Looking forward to your next PTR.

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I bought these cute Disney Princess and Cars picture frames for Ariana and Demetri's room (Alex is far too cool to have Disney frames his are just black) and we still haven't chosen which pictures to put in them! The rate I'm going, I'll have two trips to choose from.

Tracy!! So I lurked all the way to th end!!! I so enjoyed reading all about your trip!! I enjoyed reliving it through your highlights!! I really hope you do start a PTR soon I can't wait to hear all about your next trip!!!!

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Yay! I didn't know you two had stuck around. I'm so glad you lurked through, but make sure you stay out of lurkdom for the PTR, I'd love your expert ideas and suggestions!

I've so enjoyed reading your TR - and all the other adventures that got written up too! You did a great job of taking the stop and smell the roses approach, likely easier to do when you are there for 10 sleeps but I bet you don't come home feeling completely exhausted

I'd love to be in on your PTR, I don't keep up with them very well sometimes but I'll do my best as I'm excited to hear your plans (we're hoping for Dec 2011 so I'm sure I'll pick up some pointers!).

Take care and good luck with booking those ADRs

Lara

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Hi Lara! I'm so glad you came along on this little TR and I'd love to hear from you on the upcoming PTR too. It's definately easier to take it slower when you're there longer and we hope to accomplish that again in Nov/Dec. It'll be a bit tougher though since we won't be back after this year until Fantasyland is done.

I'm so sad that your TR is over!! I've had so much fun reading about your trip!! I loved your stop and smell the roses pace! I'm hoping we can do that on our 2012 trip! (go for longer and take things much slower)

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I hope your 2012 trip jives with ours! But I want to go during the F&G festival after Fantasyland is done. Do you think all the stars will align for a DIS meet?

Great picture of Ariana with Snow White in the airport! I remember walking by it and asked the boys if I could get a picture with them in front of it. They just laughed..."Yeah, right Mom." Poor Demetri looks so sad though.....

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I can just imagine the look on Nick and Noah's faces if they posed with Snow White. I remember Alex saying to me at one point during the trip... "For the sake of my entire social life, PLEASE don't post that picture on Facebook."